finally!

december 26-28, we headed to lincoln city, oregon...a fabulous beach town, to celebrate derek's (well, his name is actually 'Roo' according to me) birthday. we have made a little tradition out of heading to the coast for a couple days when we are up. it was storming like crazy...sideways rain. we had the 6 of us (i must admit, we are all pretty fun people), our 5 dogs, games, books, and a roaring fireplace.

the happy couple pre-engagement

5 dogs waiting for a treat

kels and roo in the cabin the morning of their engagement!

snuggling couch kids

perfectly cheesy, yet somehow adorable picture of sister and brother-in-law. scary part is, i am pretty sure they didn't know the other was making the same expression.

roo bought himself a 'game' on his phone for his birthday...the oregon trail. he proceeded to play for about the next 24 hours. by the time he got to oregon, kels and i had been killed off from like 18 broken limbs combined and cholera...meanwhile only matt and derek made it all the way there! haha.

now THIS was hilarious to witness. not sure what started the rough-housing with matt and my mom.




when the weather broke, we bolted down to the beach. dogs. dogs. and more dogs.



some engagement photos...



random fun on the beach...



attempted family photo. oops, denali had other plans!

after walking down the beach a ways, we realized the tide was coming in...large waves were hitting the wall! run...

after a wonderful trip to the beach, the dogs were ready to head back...first ones in the car!

balance...0

i couldn't be more excited to blog about a zero balance.......on our credit card that is!!!!!! we have been working our arses off since our wedding to rid ourselves of the debt we wish we never accumulated for our wedding. we ended up having to place about 8,000 dollars on a credit card for our wedding extravaganza. while we weren't thrilled about that, we LOVED our wedding so it was worth it :) Now, a little less than 2 years later, the debt is GONE! yay us :)

now...does anyone want to buy a condo for way over market value?

i'm in love...

...isn't it beautiful?

when i got the go-ahead from matt to buy a camera (i actually researched cameras for a while before Christmas, and that is verrry unlike me to research anything. i am an impulse buyer.) i ran to the camera shop and picked this baby up. and a 2nd lens. a really cool zoomy one.

i can't wait to share my photography with you. i've been learning things here and there. i've been inspired by other people's photography blogs and such. i've been taking hundreds of photos. of everything. but mostly my furry four-legged friends. i think they might be getting annoyed.

the surprise and the snow

I failed to mention that Matt and I surprised my parents...they didn't know we were coming up for Christmas! We timed it right to arrive into town right about the time everyone was getting off work. Our family friends and my sister and Derek planned a casual dinner at the fave little spot a few blocks from my parents house. We literally got out of the car from our 17 hour drive and walked into the restaurant where my family has just been seated. I was too excited to remember to take any pictures! But the first couple below are us walking back to my parents from the restaurant (well, I was technically getting a piggyback ride from Curran and Kels was driving :) In the restaurant, Kels asked to see my rings and tried them on (oops! they were a little tight and we laughed our you know what's off going to the bathroom so she could soap them off! Hard to tell but her finger was turning purple) *Ironic how a week later she got her own ring! :)




It snowed like nobody's business while we were there! (16 inches or so...record snowfall for more than a few decades) Once again, we were thankful in the timing of our drive being perfect to avoid the worst part of the storm! But let me tell you, it made for some awesome sledding! We walked a few blocks down to the park where there is a HILL that I'm sure God created for kids and adults alike to enjoy some serious sledding fun.








We had little discs, a couple snow skates, and my mom's radio flyer wooden sled that she had when she was a kid! Great fun had by all :)
*I would have loved to play with my new camera with snow pictures (white balance, etc), but it was snowing so hard, I didn't want it to get all wet. I would have needed an entourage to follow with umbrellas, etc. No one volunteered. Plus, I wanted to bomb the hill and easily placed my digital point and shoot in my jacket pocket :)
**stay tuned. one more post to come with the lincoln city beach edition of Christmas 2008, and more importantly my sister's engagement!!

Christmas 2008

The drive up to Oregon in December can be summed up by snowplows, mountain passes, and sleeping dogs [please note zoe resting her chin on our chain set-haha]



The 2 weeks in Oregon can't quite be summed up so easily. It was a fantastic, wonderful, beautiful, fun-filled while utterly relaxing, quality time spent with family. joy. love. lots of laughs. lots of snow. sledding. games. sitting around the fire in the living room. standing around the fire in the yard. traveling dog park everywhere we went with all our pups. the oregon coast. kelsey and derek's engagement! seeing old friends. the list goes on.





















**things to note in the photos above: matt scraping snow off the car with a spatula, matt drying his shoe in front of the wood stove with the fire tool, how matt is kelsey's long lost brother (-in-law) and how they play, wrestle, pick on each other non-stop, how adorable our dogs are and how much they love each other and snuggle, how much my 2 nephews are growing, the unfortunate tree falling on car situation dented my parent's bronco, how my orange game piece was kicking ass in balderdash[not sure who was green], it snowed so much we lost power for a few hours, the butcher the baker the candlestick maker and my mom busted out alternate lighting, and LASTLY...how crisp and clear the photo is of the 'Welcome to Oregon' sign as we were driving full speed past. yesssssssss for the new camera!

better late than never?

let's back it up to our thanksgiving week trip. we left off in boston if you forgot because my last post was so long ago!

the train to maine...matt tried to take like 47 photos of us...a few were clearer, but i liked this one. edgy. we're flying through new england on a train, work with me people.

my aunt chris and uncle dennis have this beautiful B&B in Doverfoxcroft, ME

my mom and tim's house they have owned for 2 years! it is rented out, but the renters were kind enough to let us walk through! it is a neat place with tons of POTENTIAL.

sitting on the front porch!

the backyard of my mom and tim's place

mom and matt (and the chocolate lab, ollie!)

aunt chris and her "anadama bread" it was delicious...just grew a bit distorted as it was baking :)

my uncle dennis and my mom trying to decide we was taller (both trying to pull the other one down by the jeans pockets--they are ridiculous together!)

my mom and aunt chris...live way too far apart for such close sisters!

matt, me, my mama [the blessings sign], auntie

thanksgiving day meal! the small new england fam. wish all the cousins were there!!!